The goal it took Formula E 53 races to achieve

The Paris ABB FIA Formula E event is a true city race, with its track winding its way around the history of Les Invalides, which provides a stunning backdrop. Its location also meant a traffic nightmare for series CEO and founder Alejandro Agag, who almost missed the launch event for FE's new 'ghost racing' game.

That may sound trivial, but the game itself is a serious project and its launch was a key goal FE set many years ago.

"When we started Formula E and when we thought of it - one of the things I was telling everyone was that Formula E would have a ghost video game," Agag said once he'd arrived at the game's launch.

"A 'ghost' race, where video gamers could compete in real-time. I had no idea if it was possible or not, I just said it was a dream and we would have it by race one. OK, it was race 53. [But] we didn't know it was possible so it's an amazing achievement. Our thinking is outside the box, let's try something no one else has. This is not easy, at all, to deliver this game. It's a turning point for the Formula E championship - it's probably one of the greatest days."

The game is called 'Virtually Live Ghost Racing: Formula E' which allows gamers to battle the FE field in real time as a 'ghost' able to race but not impact the 'real' drivers and the way in which the actual race played out. It's a virtual recreation of the actual racing with live commentary adding to the experience and various other add-ons creating a well-rounded mobile video game.

There was plenty of bluster at its launch event about targeting the success of Fortnite and League of Legends in the Esports sphere. But then again, every ambitious video game has made similar noises. Beneath this noise is a genuine desire for FE to go it alone, in partnership with Virtually Live, launching a game the series believes is key to its future success. FE has previous form for such ambitions, having made a sizeable commitment to its Las Vegas eRace that had a prize fund of $1million.

Now, once again, FE is going against the trend.

For years under Bernie Ecclestone's rule, Formula 1's gaming licence was farmed out to Codemasters with strict restrictions that made it feel like a money-spinner rather than a real desire to either please existing fans or reach now ones. Then Liberty Media loosened the reins. IndyCar, the British Touring Car Championship and more have had games based on their series, but these have faded into history.

Increasingly, housing the cars from the world of motorsport has come down to independents such as Slightly Mad Studio's Project Cars series or the Xbox crown jewel exclusive Forza Motorsport, while bespoke Esports initiatives such as Nissan's GT Academy and McLaren's Shadow Project exist to turn gamers into real-life drivers or assets on the simulator. FE's game is not quite the same thing.

But as Agag suggested, with real conviction, FE views gaming as integral for its future. This comes as no surprise considering the series has city centres to highlight its accessibility and the green messages, has emoji-like reactions to driver crashes on TV and the now increasingly redundant fanboost that aims to involve fans in the racing on track.

Ghost Racing is not targeting the average motorsport fan

Comparisons between the purposes of fanboost and the new game haven't gone unnoticed either, as Jerome Hiquet - Formula E's chief marketing officer - alluded to it being as much of an innovation as fanboost and the new-for-2018/19 attack mode race format system.

The game's key details explain FE's goal exactly. Firstly, it's a 'freemium' mobile game - on iOS and Android - with assist levels ranging from casual to professional. That puts Ghost Racing alongside the likes of EA's impressive Real Racing 3 - a full-on arcade racer with some nice touches that make it feel as much of a serious simulator prospect as a mobile setting can allow.

Autosport lost count of the amount times the buzzword 'innovate' was used at Ghost Racing's launch, but at least it was accurate. This isn't an FE version of Real Racing or an FE Forza add-on because the it strives to be a genuine second-screen experience to watching FE races.

At first glance, that's a weird desire. Yes, an element of modern-day fandom involves people watching a race and using social media for event analysis or to complain, but that's a largely passive interaction that does not detract from watching the race.

Ghost Racing is the opposite, it's encouraging FE fans to log on to the game live and compete against the 22 real drivers by racing in a virtual world in real time. It's an enormous undertaking, with a bespoke cloud server taking in telemetry data from the Gen2 machines and relaying it into the game in under 10 seconds.

"Formula E provides us with the data and the elements, and we also send people to the tracks to get the data," explains Virtually Live's chief technology officer Jesus Hormigo.

"We model [the tracks] in-house, as well as the drivers and cars. We collect all the data real-time from the cars [by having] little boxes that provide real-time telemetry that we will look at to recreate the experience. Looking at data, it's like looking at the Matrix."

That's no less the case for those playing the game - a Ghost Racing competitor can't really watch and understand the regularly dramatic and complex FE races while competing against online rivals on narrow city tracks and trying not to plough off into the first barrier.

But Markus Tellenbach, Virtually Live's CEO, makes it clear that this game is not targeting the average motorsport fan, much in the way FE itself claims it's attracting a different fanbase.

"The interaction the user has with the game is something he can record, and share in his community," says Tellenbach. "Imagine the gamer manages to hold or overtake [Sebastien] Buemi and has that on file. He can share that with his friends. If we talk about social, sharing is the key driver. This is a component of Ghost Racing that is another world premiere and never been done before.

"CGI [also] allows you to view the action from every angle you can possibly think of. I say every angle, truly from every drivers' position, from a track view, a tree, anywhere you want to witness. You are the director.

"Because you are your own director, you are always an editor. Every user can use Ghost Racing with the virtual director [setting] to produce his own feed and cater to his friends, family, community. The opportunity is that the fans of Stoffel Vandoorne can have a camera that focuses [on him]."

So, the way to view Ghost Racing is as an addition to FE. But at the same time, there is an attempt not to overlook the traditional motorsport fanbase, as the whole of last season is included in the game and each race of the current season can be played outside of the live events. In some ways, you can argue FE is hedging its bets - if the live racing aspect doesn't take off, here's a fully official game that allows any Gen1 or Gen2 car at any FE circuit from the last two years to be raced and shared.

Early impressions of Ghost Racing since its launch have been somewhat mixed. Visually, the game looks very similar to Real Racing 3, which is a real compliment and helps bring the immersion Virtually Live aims for to life. But there is a noticeable performance lag under strain, although a fix for that should be quite quick to turnaround.

FE has added a genuine asset to its portfolio - imagine the possibility of using its own game for analysis in its TV race production

The novelty of Ghost Racing means the player is not a part of the real action and cannot influence the race by nerfing real-life rivals out of the way or causing stoppages. The best way to describe it is to think of it as playing a time attack - but instead of racing a best-lap ghost, there are 22 cars built on real-race data. So, the immersion is a fun factor - you can watch memorable moments, such as Jose Maria Lopez's pile-up causing crash in Rome, play out in front of you.

Vandoorne (pictured below) was present at the game's launch and demonstrated how the invisibility factor can be a major negative. He stormed into the lead during a recreation of the Rome race by going full-pelt under the red flag and ended up leading by miles. The ex-McLaren Formula 1 driver also later showed Autosport's major gripe with the game - its inconsistent and often heavy handling model makes linking up a lap on slower-speed circuits such Paris difficult. But playing around with the assists can make this tolerable.

By launching the game, FE has achieved one its most desired goals and the basis for success is there. Bold claims about taking on gaming behemoths aside, the true test of this game will come further down the line.

In the 2019/20 season Ghost Racing is set to expand onto the PC platform, an exercise Hormigo rightly points out is difficult due to the upscaling and higher quality demands of a desktop. Virtual reality additions, which are just as complicated, will be added within "one or two months" after that expansion.

Then there's possibility of a console launch. Sony and Xbox were name-checked at Ghost Racing's launch but at the intended time of arrival both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One will be coming towards the end of their cycles. The Nintendo Switch was not mentioned, but many mobile games have made the transition onto the popular hybrid console. That's immediately a wider and likely more demanding audience than those usually found on smartphones. A planned launch of an Esports series has also been mentioned.

"We're at the forefront and we won't slow down with the pace of innovation," says Tellenbach. "The live commentary, the sharing of content is all small ingredients we have never seen before and you can expect a lot more to come from the partnership. We're just getting started.

"The next big chapter is becoming a top Esports property that spans around the world. We've seen how popular Esports has become with League of Legends and Fortnite. That's the sort of vision we're trying to reach. The immersion has the potential."

For now, FE has added a genuine asset to its portfolio - imagine the possibility of using its own game for analysis in its TV race production - and achieved a long-held goal. A mixed initial reaction can be resolved with updates, and likely will be.